Various techniques are known in the art for securing access to sensitive information stored in memory. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2007/0237325 describes a device having cryptographic capabilities, including a security system connected to a microcontroller block. The security system includes a non-volatile memory and a finite state machine. The finite state machine manages the device to maintain the content of an encryption key stored within the non-volatile memory secure, and to prevent access to the encryption key by a computer processing unit within the microcontroller block and/or an end user of the device.